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Mission & History

Origins of an Industry

The industry itself can be said to have been born in 1879 when Thomas Alva Edison changed the course of history by introducing a successful carbon incandescent lamp. Many of the first electrical contractors rose from the ranks of employment in the Edison Electric Illuminating Companies that were formed around the country.

Other early contractors began by working for the telephone companies or for the forerunners of public utilities, which were set up to power electric street cars. As far as can be determined, the first official electrical contracting business opened shop in New York City in 1882. Soon, hundreds of other electrical contracting companies sprung up in major cities across the continent.

Origins of an Association

Trade associations began to flourish around this same time. Local associations of electrical contractors were established to meet needs that could not be met by individual contractors working alone.

Working in cooperation allowed the contractors to share tools and skilled workers – both of which were in short supply in those early days – and to exchange ideas and information, just as association members do today.

In 1901, a group of electrical contractors met at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, where a major display of electric power had been installed. These contractors joined together to foster trade and reform abuses within their fledgling industry. Their work continues today as members of the National Electrical Contractors Association come together to strengthen their industry and provide innovative energy solutions.

Banding together also helped contractors gain a greater say in the development of local business ordinances. One of the first local associations of electrical contractors was founded in New York City in 1892. Despite their progress, local electrical contracting associations lacked the strength and unified voice necessary to deal with some big issues, including:

1. Lack of uniformity in manufacturing specifications for equipment and components hampered progress, as did the absence of consistent installation procedures. Assembly-line production techniques had not yet been developed for many items used in interior construction, so often a project would halt for weeks or months because the electrical contractor had to order a one-of-a-kind junction box or bushing specially made to fit one particular job.

Also, when a contractor was called upon to retrofit or redo an installation originally done by another company, often it was more expedient to tear out most of the previous wiring work and start over from scratch because the new electrical contractor was unable to duplicate the unfamiliar methods used in the initial installation. The fact that contractors often traveled across state borders to work on large projects compounded this problem. Adding to the confusion was the fact that there was no standard protocol, so contractors were often in dispute with architects and draftsmen over drawings that failed to specify procedures in any consistent manner.

2. Inconsistency was also a problem in the laws and regulations governing electrical construction. In those early years, very few laws actually addressed the trade at all. While the National Electrical Code had come into existence in 1897 as a single document unifying five different codes used in different regions of the country, contractors were not satisfied with this set of regulations that they had no voice in developing. Many felt that the code reflected merely the desire of insurance companies to reduce losses for damaged property, rather than stressing practical installation methods that would ensure workers’ safety.

At the same time, many electrical contractors saw the need to establish state laws on licensing the trade. By 1900, Minnesota was the only state to have enacted such regulations, and local electrical contractors associations were beginning to look to it as a model that should be replicated. They perceived that requiring everyone in the business to meet basic standards of competency would benefit the industry’s reputation and protect the public.

3. The lack of standards for competency aggravated another problem threatening the growing electrical contracting industry: bluntly, not all of these entrepreneurs were honest or skilled. The poor performance of just one electrical contractor could have tarnished the image of all his counterparts and prejudiced potential customers against “electrifying.” Also, in the face of increasingly stiff competition, many contractors suffered from the less-than-ethical practices of some of their rivals. Many early industry leaders saw the need to develop a basic code of business ethics, in addition to uniform codes and standards for performing installations.

4. But how could novice electrical contractors, who were more likely to have been educated (if trained at all) in the mechanics of the job, rather than in commercial management, be persuaded to operate according to ethical directives? To accomplish this objective, a system of providing management training would have to be developed. Some local associations were already addressing this concern, but they realized that the industry would not flourish unless all its members across the nation adopted a professional approach. Industry expansion was also hampered by a lack of skilled craftsmen to do the work.

5. Responding to the organized labor movement and enacting fair labor relations practices was also important to these new electrical contractors. At the turn of the 20th century, the nation was still recovering from the severe economic depression of the 1890s. Many contractors remembered days when anti-union feeling ran high, due, in part, to the prevalent misconception that the country’s financial turmoil stemmed from union forces inflating the wage base. Some electrical contractors would carry their prejudices for a generation or more, postponing until after World War I the establishment of the relationship of mutual respect and cooperation that unionized electrical contractors and their workforce enjoy today.

It would take some time for the fledgling electrical construction industry to address all these concerns, but movement in this direction began before the 20th century commenced. By 1899, an organization representing six associations of electrical contractors within the state of New York was formed – the United Electrical Contractors of New York State.

In early 1901, the New York group was preparing for its convention at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. This was to be a historic occasion. Thomas Edison himself was to be on hand to officiate at an “illumination” ceremony to launch the “electrification” of the fair, where exposition-goers were to be dazzled, for the first time ever, by the light of more than 10,000 bulbs providing instant illumination at the flick of a switch.

The United Electrical Contractors of New York State decided to make the event even more historic. They sent out a call for representatives of all the electrical contracting associations across the nation to join their convention to explore the possibility of establishing a national organization. The call was answered by 49 contractors from 18 cities in eight states – New York, Maryland, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The prime motivation for these 49 contractors to join together was the problem of electrical installations by a wide variety of businessmen without a common code of ethics or protocol. The men who met in Buffalo wanted to create an industry. They were struggling to establish an identity for their trade.

Shortly after 2:00 p.m. on July 17, 1901, this group meeting in the New York State Building on the exposition grounds had ratified into being the National Electrical Contractors Association of the United States. The allied contractors went on to elect the association’s first national officers, with Charles L. Eidlitz of New York City chosen as the association’s first national president. The group settled on Utica, NY, as home to the association’s first national headquarters. A constitution and bylaws also were adopted. As set forth in that first constitution, “The objects for which this Association is formed are the fostering of trade among electrical contractors … to reform abuses … to settle differences between its members … and to promote more enlarged and friendly discourse among its membership.”

Carrying out those objectives would continue to occupy the association for the next century – and well beyond!